


Colour

by Mercia



Series: Femslash February 2019 [18]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Runaways (TV 2017)
Genre: Bubble Bath, Canon Universe, Comfort/Angst, Depression, Domestic, Established Relationship, F/F, Femslash February, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Healthy Relationships, References to Depression, Sickfic, i guess?, undiagnosed depression
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-20
Updated: 2019-02-20
Packaged: 2019-10-31 21:44:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17857508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mercia/pseuds/Mercia
Summary: Some days, Karolina knows, Nico can't get up.





	Colour

**Author's Note:**

> (The prompt was bubble bath idk why i had to make it angsty but u know what)

Some days, Karolina knows, Nico can’t get up. Nico, who’s usually so headstrong – a little, overpowered spitfire, who can’t get up some days. She will lie in bed and just… lay, on her side, not looking at anything, just the sheets around her and the pillow next to her. Curled up small and wide awake but unable to lift her head, even though she has a magic staff which can do anything.

Karolina recognises it easily enough now when it comes, at least when it’s this bad, and knows what to expect. She stays in bed a little longer herself, about half an hour or so, under the covers, making sure to keep close but not quite enough to be touching. Nico doesn’t like to be crowded, not even by her, on days like this.

She makes sure to hum a little, even if it’s a bit off-key, some song she’s heard a few times on Nico’s Spotify. It helps, Nico told her once, helps her not get trapped in her thoughts too deeply.

It feels both heavy and weighed and too light at the same time, she’d said. The duvet both helps and doesn’t in equal measures, grounding her, making her feel real and substantial enough to not feel like held air, but heavy and trapping, feeling like snares made of stone.

Karolina knows that after an hour and a bit, she won’t be helping anymore, and she has to get out of bed or Nico will feel guilty about it later but not say anything. Knows not to rip off the sheets and probe her into getting up like Mrs Minoru used to. Knows that, even though Nico might not respond, she still appreciates the light kiss on her cheek and Karolina talking to her idly as she gets dressed as if she is. Sometimes, if Karolina is lucky, Nico will manage a small, short smile in response.

By the time Karolina is in the kitchen, it will probably be around 10:30. She’s making her breakfast, actually cooking, in the hopes that the smell of fried eggs and bacon will manage to get Nico out of bed. It’s worked twice before, so you never know, and she always makes extra.

She knows not to try bringing a plate to Nico, though, because that makes Nico feel guilty too, and she might leave it and let it grow cold before she can get up which also doesn’t help. And she knows not to force Nico out of bed like that either.

Sometimes, she knows, she just has to rest. Recover a little. Recover from what, Karolina isn’t specifically sure, but she knows, sometimes she needs it.

But she also knows that sometimes just leaving her be is worse, makes the heaviness and emptiness grow, that Nico, sometimes, needs a hand, even when she doesn’t say so (especially then.) Usually, around two or two-thirty is when Karolina starts to get really worried.

She eats what she can of breakfast before leaving it to the others to finish, which they will, of course.

She goes out. When Nico is missing from her side, Karolina feels best out in the open than just ruminating back at the Hostel. And it’s only about a twenty-minute walk to a busy cluster of shops. Plenty of time to stretch her legs for an hour or so, and she has her phone on her, fully charged so she can rush back at any time.

She dips in and out of the crowd, head bowed low, hair falling over her face a little, keeping one hand holding her phone and the other picking over wares, keeping an eye on their money.

By the time she’s back, she has a small carrier bag of goods and it’s around twelve thirty. Karolina drops off most of the stuff in the dining room and hurries off to check on her girlfriend, knocking three times before entering.

“Hey,” she says, hanging up her jacket. “I was just out shopping.”

Nico is still in bed, cocooned in the covers, but she does look up blearily from lying face-down, so Karolina counts it as a little win.

“I bought a bunch of stuff,” she continues. Coming to sit at the foot of the bed. “Pastries, obviously. I feel like Old Lace keeps finishing them for some reason. More toilet roll. Oranges. Milk. Hot chocolate powder.”

It’s a pretty ordinary list, nothing exciting to be honest, but, eventually, Nico’s head emerges fully and she blinks before her eyes finally focus on Karolina.

“I love you,” says Nico, and her voice is still tired, but there’s a small smile on her face and she blushes, because ‘ _I love you_ ’ will probably never not make either of them blush. “Help me get up?”

“Of course,” Karolina replies quickly, smiling back. “And I love you too.”

There’s a bathtub upstairs, which Nico and she spent hours scrubbing out before they’d both gotten frustrated and eventually Nico had just used her staff. And there are a few fancy bath bombs in the bag. Karolina knows just how to make Nico feel better.

Nico is still quiet when she gets up, finally. Trailing Karolina around a little like a ghost, though Karolina doesn’t mind, certainly not when Nico silently tugs at her sleeve and they hold hands.

It’s a small assortment of bath bombs, all glittery and colourful, and, predictably, Nico picks the galaxy themed one, black on the outside but all rainbows and glitter on the inside. Just like Nico, she thinks privately, although Nico says it’s just like Karolina — like the both of them then, she supposes. The water is warm, and both of them watch, rapt, as the bath bomb drops in the water and begins to fizz, tiny bubbles of colour rising up and gathering into a frothy foam and staining the water pink and purple and midnight blue, sparkles of gold suspended throughout.

She helps Nico get in before going to fetch her a cup of tea, and maybe some toast too because she hasn’t eaten all day, even though she knows Nico probably still doesn’t feel hungry.

The air is still, but in that homey, warm, comforting kind of way, where Karolina is sitting on the footstool next to the bath and showing her girlfriend stupid memes on Tumblr and making sure she eats the toast, and her girlfriend is in the bath, playing with the bubbles and occasionally blowing them into Karolina’s hair, feeling better. Laughing, even.

Some days, Karolina knows, Nico can’t get up. And that’s okay.

She doesn’t have to, and Karolina will be there when she does and when she doesn’t.

By the time the water is cold, and Nico is shivering a little, and all the tea and toast and bubbles are gone, Nico can get up by herself. Karolina still offers her hand, though, and Nico still takes it

**Author's Note:**

> y'all probs don't care but I WILL CATCH UP ON THIS SERIES TOMORROW I SWEAR. SCHOOL IS JUST CRAZY RN
> 
> also prompt me


End file.
